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The Ohio State University&Cleveland Clinic Form Alliance to Focus on Accelerated Commercialization

July 24, 2012

Cleveland Clinic Innovations and The Ohio State University’s Technology Commercialization and Knowledge Transfer Office (TCO) have entered into an alliance to accelerate and commercialize medical innovations. This collaborative effort, which creates the largest medical commercialization network in Ohio, is focused on improving and extending the lives of patients, and will have a positive impact on the State of Ohio through job creation and economic development.

“This partnership holds enormous potential for Ohio to reshape the future of medicine,” said Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee. “For many years, the research conducted at places such as Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State has provided the foundation for major advances in medical technology and patient care. Working together, we will be able to fully realize the potential of this innovation and research – moving more quickly to take research out of the lab and into hospitals around the world.”

The alliance leverages the capabilities of the largest and third largest performers of medical-related research and development in the state. Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State will be sharing and utilizing their comprehensive technology and commercialization service infrastructures to develop and deploy new medical innovations that are generated by researchers, physicians, faculty and administrative staff at both institutions. These innovations come in many forms, such as medical devices, patient services, new medical software systems, consumer products and startup companies.

"This collaboration between Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State will accelerate the development of patient-centered innovations, which will help improve quality and reduce healthcare costs,” said Delos M. “Toby” Cosgrove, MD, Cleveland Clinic President and CEO. “Our shared commitment to medical innovation will not only benefit patients, it will also improve the economic health of our state.”

The first step for this new collaboration is a joint assessment of each institution’s technologies and needs to identify resources and unique programs that can potentially be harnessed to quickly scale and commercialize. A jointly compiled list of the institutions’ top 20 medical technologies will serve as the initial commercialization priorities for the partnership.

The efforts of this collaboration will span the medical industry spectrum. One initial area of focus will be on neuromodulation, which uses electrical stimulation to alleviate and cure disease, an area where both institutions have a strong and synergistic focus. Software in medicine is also of high importance as new technologies are allowing researchers to analyze biomedical data from multiple locations and platforms – a capability that was nonexistent in the medical IT realm due to the wide variety of platforms used for data storage.

Both Ohio State and Cleveland Clinic Innovations have extensive portfolios that include successes in developing commercialization pathways for medical devices, drug discovery and therapeutics, health information technologies, research tools and diagnostics. Nationally, this is one of few alliances of this kind between prominent academic medical centers, putting Ohio in a leadership position for the commercialization of medical technology.

“The Wexner Medical Center and Cleveland Clinic are two of Ohio’s finest medical institutions,” said Mark D. Kvamme, President and Interim Chief Investment Officer for JobsOhio. “This collaboration will attract innovative new companies and technologies to Ohio while growing highly desired jobs to retain and expand our workforce in this very important industry.”

Cleveland Clinic Innovations, the corporate venturing arm of Cleveland Clinic, has filed more than 1,600 patents, has more than 300 active licenses and has formed 48 spin-off companies that have received more than $600 million in equity investment. Nearly 1,000 jobs have been generated as a result of Cleveland Clinic Innovations and its spin-offs, which have had a significant impact on economic growth in Northeast Ohio.

Ohio State has seen more than a 130 percent increase in inventions from the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and the Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. Since TCO’s reorganization in 2011, Ohio State is on target to have its best year ever in terms of new revenue, licenses, inventions received and students and faculty engaged in new programs.

About The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

The Ohio State University’s main Columbus campus is one of America’s largest and most comprehensive. More than 55,000 students select from 14 colleges, 175 undergraduate majors, and 240 master’s, doctoral, and professional degree programs. As Ohio’s best and one of the nation’s top-20 public universities, Ohio State is further recognized by a top-rated academic medical center and a premier cancer hospital and research center. The Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center is a national leader in personalized health care, biomedical informatics, genetics, pharmacology and several medical specialties that include cancer, cardiology, critical care, imaging, neurosciences and transplantation. Ohio State attracts medical researchers from around the world. There are more than 2,000 active research studies taking place at Ohio State in virtually every medical specialty. Earlier this month, U.S. News & World Report again recognized Wexner Medical Center as one of the nation's best hospitals.

About Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S. News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation’s best hospitals in its annual “America’s Best Hospitals” survey. About 2,800 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic Health System includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals and 18 Family Health Centers in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and opening in 2013, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2010, there were 4 million visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 167,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 100 countries. Visit us at www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.